OS X El Capitan error: "E212: Can't open file for writing" after Vim window open for long time

[AaronM04]

Hi, I noticed a problem with gitgutter that appears on Mac OS X after the Vim window is open for 15 days or so:

Error detected while processing function gitgutter#process_buffer[10]..gitgutter#diff#run_diff:
line 35:
"/var/folders/38/jh5yczrn3pn2g2g0hwf0yxc40000gv/T/vfjbkow/4.rb" E212: Can't open file for writing
Press ENTER or type command to continue

This pops up periodically, interfering with my editing until I either disable the plugin (I actually don't know how to do this) or close and reopen the Vim window.

[AaronM04]

I think I found a temporary workaround, which is to mkdir /var/folders/38/jh5yczrn3pn2g2g0hwf0yxc40000gv/T/vfjbkow. I suppose the OS cleaned up that directory after a while, and gitgutter expected it to still exist.

[airblade]

That's right, the OS is cleaning the temp directories.

The easiest workaround is to close and reopen vim.

On 15 Dec 2016, at 17:57, Aaron Miller notifications@github.com wrote:

I think I found a temporary workaround, which is to mkdir /var/folders/38/jh5yczrn3pn2g2g0hwf0yxc40000gv/T/vfjbkow. I suppose the OS cleaned up that directory after a while, and gitgutter expected it to still exist.

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[AaronM04]

In my opinion, it would improve usability of gitgutter if it created a new temp directory when this error occurs.

On December 15, 2016 12:58:36 PM PST, Andy Stewart notifications@github.com wrote:

That's right, the OS is cleaning the temp directories.

The easiest workaround is to close and reopen vim.

On 15 Dec 2016, at 17:57, Aaron Miller notifications@github.com wrote:

I think I found a temporary workaround, which is to mkdir /var/folders/38/jh5yczrn3pn2g2g0hwf0yxc40000gv/T/vfjbkow. I suppose the OS cleaned up that directory after a while, and gitgutter expected it to still exist.

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-- You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/airblade/vim-gitgutter/issues/395#issuecomment-267442185

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[airblade]

I agree but I feel it's better solved by Vim itself. GitGutter uses the temp file facility provided by Vim (tempname()) – I don't think it's within the scope of a plugin to handle problems with Vim's implementation.

BTW according to this SuperUser answer OS X deletes temp files and empty directories after 3 days of inactivity. On my OS X 10.11.6 the script is /etc/periodic/daily/110.clean-tmps.

[AaronM04]

Ah, I didn't know about tempfile(). That does suggest that Vim should be fixed. Thanks!

On December 16, 2016 1:25:06 AM PST, Andy Stewart notifications@github.com wrote:

I agree but I feel it's better solved by Vim itself. GitGutter uses the temp file facility provided by Vim (tempname()) – I don't think it's within the scope of a plugin to handle problems with Vim's implementation.

BTW according to this SuperUser answer OS X deletes temp files and empty directories after 3 days of inactivity. On my OS X 10.11.6 the script is /etc/periodic/daily/110.clean-tmps.

-- You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/airblade/vim-gitgutter/issues/395#issuecomment-267552199

-- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[tnguyen14]

I am using a shared VM that I do not have sudo access to, and cannot change the temp cleaning behavior. I was hoping for a way around this instead of reopening vim.

[AaronM04]

@tnguyen14 I ended up switching to vim-signify. It does not have this bug.

[airblade]

@AaronM04 vim-signify (here and here) and vim-gitgutter (here) both use tempname(). So they will behave the same way with respect to this issue.

[AaronM04]

The disruptive error pop up is the issue I have only observed with vim-gitgutter. Presumably vim-signify handles missing temporary file failures differently.

[airblade]

Ah, looking at this with fresh eyes I realised the difference (explained in dab840b's commit message). This problem should be solved now.